Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it’s all the same: a monster. And once it’s got hold of you, this monster will never let you go.

Kristina thinks she can control it. Now with a baby to care for, she’s determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong, and before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She needs it to feel alive.

Once again the monster takes over Kristina’s life and she will do anything for it, including giving up the one person who gives her the unconditional love she craves — her baby.

The sequel to Crank, this is the continuing story of Kristina and her descent back to hell. Told in verse, it’s a harrowing and disturbing look at addiction and the damage that it inflicts.

4 out of 5 stars

This being the second book in the series, I don’t want to give away too much, but if you’ve not read anything by Ellen Hopkins you really should. Okay. So, this ending sucked a lot, but the whole book was so easy and fun to read. I’ve not read a lot of books in verse, but this makes me want to. The whole plot to this book is that Kristina is having a mental battle with herself about using glass, or meth. She is addicted to it in every way, so she goes to her friend’s house to get a fix, and meets a boy named Trey. They have a thing and end up smoking and drinking and having sex all the time. Now, Kristina was kicked out of her parent’s house because of her addiction, and her mother made her leave her baby, Hunter, with her. Kristina’s parents have custody over her baby because she’s a mess. All Kristina wants is to be loved, so when Trey shows her love, she holds onto it.

This book goes through Kristina and Trey’s journey with the monster. They are addicted, and will do anything to use glass, so they start stealing money and writing fake checks to get by. They are both at the bottom of their lives, but they don’t want to get help. They don’t want to feel better. So they get caught.

The whole story was leading up to the ending *well obviously* but I didn’t like it. I do want to read the next one immediately, so Hopkins used her powers for good, but dang. I really liked this book because you get to see the “logic” behind doing drugs. I’ve never done any drugs or really anything bad, so I kind of feel rebellious when I read these sorts of books. I know, stupid, but hey. If I get to feel a little rebellion through a book all is well.

I highly recommend reading some of Ellen Hopkins’ books because you will be hooked. They’re easy to read, and you’ll feel a little rebellious in the time being. I also want to read poetry or books in verse, if you have any recommendations for some super great ones, comment them down below!

The time is now, the country is Japan and the world is facing an unseen and deadly danger, and the only hope for anyone is a group of six teenagers. Not a promising start!Riku Yamamoto’s destiny was decided for him over a thousand years ago when the Earth was at war with a race of beings called the Him-ids.It is on his shoulders that the fate of mankind rests, a tall order for someone so young but he does not have to face the battle alone. When his grandfather tells him of his fate, Riku is shocked and disbelieving at first. But then Nagasaki, an ancient Japanese warrior, is awakened just before Riku’s sixteenth birthday, confirming that what his grandfather says is true. Riku and his friends rise magnificently to the occasion, the trouble is so do their enemies…

3 out of 5 stars

I was sent this book by the author for an honest review!

Riku Yamamoto is destined to be the ruler of Japan taken from a prophecy one thousand years ago. He is part of the Moon-Star Spirit group who are meant to protect all of Japan from the Him-ids. Riku is has a group of six friends and they have been friends for as long as he can remember; they are his protectors. Riku and Shin are in love with two of the girls from their group, Takara and Yukiko. They devote themselves to protecting their loved ones and themselves. Throughout this book the group goes through adventures with Nagasaki, the man who was meant to help them. He was part of the original battle one thousand years earlier. The group follows him and takes battle strategies from him. The book ends with an epic battle among the Him-ids and the Moon-Star Spirits, and it ends at a high point of the book.

Alright, first off, huge thanks to E.B. Dillon for sending this book to me! I always love when authors ask me to read their books!

I have to say that I didn’t love this book, but it wasn’t bad by any means. The plan behind it was really cool, and not something I’ve read before. I’ve not really read about Japanese culture, so that was an interesting twist. I did get quite confused with all the names because there wasn’t much development of the character before the name was dropped. I also really didn’t understand the romance throughout this book. Shin and Yukiko didn’t even know they loved each other, and by the end of the book they were married. Um. Riku and Takara always knew they had feelings for each other, but they got married when they were 16. Um. That’s extremely young. I’m 17 and wouldn’t want to get married now.

There were also some spelling mistakes and I don’t know the reason for that. There were quite a few parts that I was confused because of the spelling and grammar errors.

All in all, I think that this was an interesting book to read, and not something I would normally pick up. I enjoyed the majority of this book, but wish there was a little more time spent introducing the characters. Again, thank you to E.B. Dillon!

If I am currently reading multiple books, I will only put the one I read most recently during my day in each post to keep it condensed. In theses posts I will be talking about what I read then, now, and what I will read next!

THEN: I just finished Oleah Chronicles: Justice by Michelle Johnson, and I enjoyed it. I really loved the first one, and was looking forward to this one. I have to say that I liked the first one much more than this one. I am excited to read the third one in this series when it comes out because it ended in a cliff hanger! I wish we would have gotten more information on Zander, but I think that will happen in the next book. Cross your fingers!

NOW: I just started The Wakening by E. B. Dillon a few days ago and about 1/3 of the way through it. I hope to finish it in the next few days. It’s different than what I’ve read before, but it’s pretty intriguing. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. There are some unnecessary declarations of love, and some random typos in the book, but other than that it’s pretty good. There are two separate stories happening currently (at page 107) and it’s interesting because they’re just starting to tie together. I’m excited to see where the story takes me!

NEXT: The next book I’m picking up is Sword of Deaths (The Scythe Wielder’s Secret #2) by Christopher Mannino. I read the first one in March, and I enjoyed it. I am trying to work my way through my review books, so that’s why there are so many new books on this blog! You should definitely try this series, because it’s fun and interesting to read about. The ending of the first book ended somewhat abruptly, so I’m excited to start the second one soon.

After discovering the truth about her Oleah origins, Angel thought she could still have a normal life, consisting of normal things – like her seventeenth birthday party. But there is no such thing as normal for Angel anymore. She learned that the hard way after Sindrell – the most powerful sorceress in the universe – crashed her party, destroyed the city, and took her best friend, Julie, captive. Determined to defeat Sindrell for good, Angel must risk her life, along with the fate of the entire universe to get Julie back…alive. The only way she can do this successfully, is to embrace her Oleah instincts and learn what it takes to become a true warrior. Problem is, Sindrell has an insurance policy of her own that will put millions of lives in danger – including Zander’s – to ensure her quest for power is brought to fruition. One way or another. In order to protect Zander, and save Julie, Angel has to make a choice… but will it be the right one?

3 out of 5 stars

I received this book for an honest review!

Angel has just found out about being an Oleah, and she doesn’t know how to handle it. She just takes it day by day, and finally is starting to get used to being the princess of the Oleah. She is in love with her boyfriend Zander, who just so happens to be a vampire, and then her best friend is taken by Sindrell, the worst of the worst. Angel has to get Julie, her best friend, back from the evil side, and then all of the sudden something crazy happens. Julie acts as though she doesn’t want to be saved. Hmm. Angel gets he away from Sindrell’s grip, but in the hospital bad things happen to Julie. Angel doesn’t know what to do, and has to get advice from some Angels in Heaven. What will happen to her best friend?

Alright. This book kind of let me down compared to the first. Not a ton happened, and I was looking forward to it! I really enjoyed the first one, and was really anxious to see what happened next, and there honestly wasn’t a lot. Julie gets away from Sindrell from the help of Angel and Zander, but then Sindrell just happens to bite her right before she gets killed by Angel. Hmm. We know something will stem from this, but I didn’t think that Julie would hate Angel. It kind of made me sad, honestly.

So Julie ends up meeting a “nurse” at the hospital who injects her with an unknown substance (blood from Lucifer?) and then she craves blood. I kind of knew what was happening long before it happened, but I was a little surprised by the ending of the book.

All in all, not a lot happened in this book; it was really short. I am anxious to see what happens in the next book, and how Angel and Zander’s relationship progresses. You got a little more background on him, so I’d say that was my favorite part. Again, can’t wait to read the next book!

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.

4 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book, but it was definitely a filler book for the rest of the series. This happens quite often with trilogies or quartets where the books in the middle are just there to be there. I felt that way with this one, honestly. Yes, things did happen, but not extremely large plot points throughout. My favorite part of this book was making the connections between the places in the book. Now, this isn’t a legit map, it’s just a fan made thing, but it makes SOOOO much sense.

It’s pretty cool, if you ask me.

I enjoyed the relationship between Cal and Mare through this one because there was some tension. It wasn’t just them pretending not to show feelings for each other; they had wayyyyy more important things to worry about and it was nice for the book to not be romance driven.

Mare was very reclusive and scared during this book, and that surprised me. She didn’t want anyone to die, but was putting everyone in danger. She had PTSD (I think) from being in the Hunger Games-like competition thing at the end of book one. I don’t know. Mare reminded me of Katniss a lot, and I get that THG is a very successful series, but please try and think of new characters.

Some of the powers that were introduced from the Newbloods were fricking cool. The gravity thing and the future telling powers were my favorite. They were really cool to read about, and I really liked the group that were the Newbloods.

I would most definitely choose to be Mare’s brother in this book because he had the ability to transport people. He would touch someone and think of a place and then they’d “jump” there. It was a really cool power to read about, and I can’t wait to see which powers show up in the next books.

The cliffhanger at the ending just pissed me off, honestly. I want to know what happens, but I also just want to not know because why would you end a book like that. Ugh. Whatever. It was a good ending for the book, but I just didn’t like it. It was logical.

Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her mother, Camille, the town’s tiara-wearing, lipstick-smeared laughingstock, a woman who is trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen of Georgia. When tragedy strikes, Tootie Caldwell, CeeCee’s long-lost great-aunt, comes to the rescue and whisks her away to Savannah. There, CeeCee is catapulted into a perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity—one that appears to be run entirely by strong, wacky women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons; to Tootie’s all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones; to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

A timeless coming of age novel set in the 1960s, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship, and charts the journey of an unforgettable girl who loses one mother, but finds many others in the storybook city of Savannah. As Kristin Hannah, author of Fly Away, says, Beth Hoffman’s sparkling debut is “packed full of Southern charm, strong women, wacky humor, and good old-fashioned heart.”

4 out of 5 stars

CeeCee Honeycutt lives with her mentally unstable mother, Camille, in northern United States. Camille is obsessed with beauty pageants because when she was younger she won a large pageant. CeeCee is taking care of her mother as if she were her child, and when something severe happens, she goes to live with her Aunt Tootie. CeeCee isn’t happy about this right away, but learns to love Tootie and Oletta, the house cook. She moves down to Savannah and lives in a fancy southern house, and adjusts quickly to her new life. Cecelia makes friends with some neighbors and eventually a young girl she ends up going to school with.

This story is so touching and so sweet. The book is innocent, and was really fun to read. I love CeeCee because, like me, she’s a reader. I mean, reading about readers is one of the best things. Anyway. I really enjoyed this book because of the southern lifestyle that CeeCee got to live. I personally believe that I should live in the south in a fancy house and have fancy dinner parties and such. It would be so relaxing and nice. And there is sweet tea everywhere in the south. MMMM.

I really connected with CeeCee throughout this book, and I could definitely see myself rereading it in the future. I don’t particularly understand why this book was marketed towards adults, but I feel like any young reader would enjoy this book a lot. Along with the fun times you got to read about in this book, you also understood some of CeeCee’s other emotions as well. She was frustrated with both her parents, she was scared about starting a new life, she was angry, sad, happy. You felt the emotions with her, and I think that shows a great author.

I recommend this book if you like the south, enjoy young adolescent stories, and just want a good read. I would compare this book to Anne of Green Gables in a way because of the lightheartedness of the reading experience.

If you’ve read this let me know in the comments what you thought of it!